Is this bike a 24 speed?

[OWC Jamie]

freeradical wrote:
[quote=mattkime]
[quote=freeradical]
If so, why would this many gears be needed for a casual weekend rider?

http://www.bianchiusa.com/bikes/city-tre...ismo/iseo/

maybe you live near hills.

fwiw - pros / racers have 20 or 22 gears at this point. 2 chainrings and 10 or 11 cogs. the 24 speed bike you're looking at has a wider range of gearing so you can keep the effort toward the civilized side of things.
I can appreciate the wider range of gears, but I don't see how the average rider would see a difference between say gear 17 or 18. An average non-enthusiast dslr owner might not be able to tell the difference between f5.6 and f8 either. Doesn't mean there isn't a difference.